In His sermon on the mount, Jesus does quite a bit of unpacking of the 10 Commandments.  As sinful people, the people of Israel (like all of us) had taken the 10 Commandments and done two things with them.  First, they turned them into the means by which we make ourselves right before God and, Second, they found loopholes and work-arounds to be able to say they were following the commandments, even if they weren’t.  So, for example, you could hate your brother and harm him in certain ways, but not kill him and you’ve still followed the 5th commandment.

In today’s passage, Jesus is dealing with the 8th Commandment not to lie.  One phrase that has always amused me is when people have been talking to you for a while and then they start a statement with, “To be completely honest…”  What?  Have you been lying to me up until now?

Speak the Truth:
He approaches the commandment in a simple, but perhaps surprising way.  He says not only should you not swear falsely (lie), but you shouldn’t take an oath at all.  Some people have taken this passage to mean they can’t take the oath at the beginning of a legal testimony, but that’s not what Jesus is getting at.  What he’s saying is, just be honest.  If you don’t lie or bend the truth, but simply be honest, there’s no need to take an oath.

The oath is said to either prevent lying or to give the impression that someone isn’t lying.  But if you make a habit of telling the truth, you won’t need that.  You won’t need the extra element of an oath to convince people you are telling the truth if you are known for telling the truth.  They will rightly believe you.

Interestingly, psychologists will tell you that when someone starts a sentence with something like, “To be completely honest…” there’s a very good chance they are about to lie to you.

Speak the Truth in Love:
It has to be said that the Bible also tells us to speak the truth in Ephesians 4:15, but adds that it should be done in love.  The truth can be used as a weapon.  It can be used to harm and destroy rather than heal and built up.  We are to always speak the truth, but we are also to show love to each other.  If a friend were to come to me in confidence and confide in me a struggle they were going through, I could go tell everyone what they told me and still be speaking the truth, but I wouldn’t be showing love.

Love is to govern all that we do, including speaking the truth.  That means considering the time, people, place, tone, and purpose of how we speak the truth to be sure it is done in a loving way that heals, protects, and builds each other up in Christ.